The Impact of Potential Labor Supply on Licensing Exam Difficulty in the US Market for Lawyers

Mario Pagliero

No 18, Working papers from Former Department of Economics and Public Finance "G. Prato", University of Torino

Abstract: Entry into licensed professions requires meeting competency requirements, typically assessed through licensing examinations. In the market for lawyers, there are large differences in the difficulty of the entry examination both across states and over time. The paper explores whether the number and quality of individuals attempting to enter the profession (potential supply) affects the difficulty of the entry examination. The empirical results show that a larger potential supply leads to more difficult licensing exams and lower pass rates. This implies that licensing partially shelters the legal market from supply shocks.

Keywords: occupational licensing; legal market; bar exam; minimum standards; entry regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J44 K2 L4 L5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27 pages
Date: 2011-02, Revised 2013-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cis, nep-ind, nep-lab, nep-law and nep-reg
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.bemservizi.unito.it/repec/tur/wpaper/n18.pdf First version, 2011 (application/pdf)
http://www.bemservizi.unito.it/repec/tur/wpaper/n18R.pdf Revised version, 2013 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Impact of Potential Labor Supply on Licensing Exam Difficulty in the US Market for Lawyers (2007)
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